vast majority of items used by medieval people created handmade. Technology developed very slowly. Almost no changes have happened in building mechanisms, all done in old ways. Continuous remain as tools for farmers. Usually all work performed by hand, lacked traction animals.
If you look at the medieval technique, it may seem a poor and primitive. She even inferior to the one enjoyed the ancient Greeks and Romans. Yet humanity is stopped in its technological development, changes have been, though slowly. This was due to several factors: first, medieval artisans did not seek to increase production of its products due to limited demand would lead to lower prices and, consequently, reduce revenue, and secondly, in a society guided by tradition, the new aroused suspicion and fear and perceived as the devil. Therefore, we have almost reached the names of the inventors of the few Middle Ages.
most significant innovations that changed life in the Middle Ages, were: the appearance of stirrups (borrowed from the East, the Chinese invented) that promoted the emergence of knighthood, in the collar of the invention IX - X century.; massive use of mills - water (invented by the Romans in the V - VI cent.) and wind (borrowed from Persia in the XI - XII centuries).. In the XIV century. water mill was improved: nyzhnobiyne wheel was replaced verhnobiynym (water falling from above). Also, water was used to drive the movement to bring hammers for crushing ore, forging, pumping water from mines and so on. From the XI century. paper spread in Europe, who in the XIII century. almost completely replaced parchment. This reduction in cost books, promoted the development of record keeping. Soon there were glasses (XIV century .).
But the production of fundamentally new things achieved by improving old technology or borrowed from the East.
impetus for the creation of simple mechanisms modernized first machine - a mechanical clock. There were mechanisms that facilitated the work of man while lifting loads and pulley, jacks, cranes, piston pumps. For laying and clearing channels began to use digging machines.
Big changes in military affairs made the emergence and spread of firearms (from XIVst.). Knightly cavalry began to lose its role, and once mighty castles could not resist artillery fire.
in maritime affairs important inventions were the astrolabe and compass, the device for determining the coordinates of the ship.
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